


Twenty Two

by CaptainRivaini



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Femslash, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2013-11-22
Packaged: 2017-12-31 08:12:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1029370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainRivaini/pseuds/CaptainRivaini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A second year after the outbreak leads to a new civilisation in the city known as Woodbury, a place that has protected the inhabitants inside from the very start against the infected. With Andrea and Michonne just arriving they are thrust into a community that demands their trust, however with the infected closing in are they safer outside the walls or in?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twenty Two

  
**T** wenty Two was the block they were situated in on the second day of the second year since the outbreak, a block where (to Andrea’s amusement and Michonne’s frustration) most families and young couples were situated as if to protect the younger, more inexperienced as best as they could from the world outside the 30 feet walls that surround them all.

Andrea didn’t care where she was put, she was happy to be away from where the soldiers were constantly doing drills and screaming as though the world was about to end all around them.

(“The world _is_ ending,” Michonne reminded her the first time she mentioned it to her friend. It made Andrea roll her eyes and grab at Michonne’s hand, pulling her along and away from Sixteen, murmuring about how it didn’t matter if the world was ending, it didn’t mean they had to yell about it.)

They hadn’t always been in Twenty Two or even in the city of Woodbury in the first place, in fact Andrea can remember the first year of the outbreak as though she could watch it on replay whenever she wanted with her and her sister holed up in their attic, small, shrivelled and starving with the sounds of nails scraping on the wood below them to remind them what moving from their weak state actually meant.

The third day of the third week of the outbreak Andrea hears the scraping noise stop the same time she hears her sister’s choked cries stop.

She didn’t quite know which one is more deafening.

It turned out neither was because days later the sound of Amy’s growls and one final gunshot are the mementos Andrea kept with her as she slowly crawled out of her attic on shaking legs, her hunger and unwillingness to care about her own well-being anymore being the factor that kept her going for a few moments more.

Moments turned slowly into hours as Andrea had walked through her town, staggering and slipping whenever exhaustion and hunger continued to bite at her and send her sprawling to the ground and rising with the aura of a child with scraped, bloodied knees and tears that stung at her eyes and words lodged into her throat, desperate to call out for someone, _anyone_ that could help her.

The infected were the first to answer her unspoken cries. A group of them with snapping jaws and outstretched arms, longing for her to satisfy their hunger in a way only the living could satisfy the dead nowadays, a hunger that was cannibalistic and to Andrea’s horror and understanding, never-ending too.

It was strange to describe how she had felt at that exact moment, the moment where she had chosen to accept her fate and die. The one thing was abundantly clear however was that she had felt weightless, like someone had cleared her memory of everything vaguely stressful and that all that was left was happiness, happiness that relaxed her body until she had no other choice but to keep going forward to meet her fate of hungry jaws and lustful hunger.

The infected (‘biters Andrea, because they fucking bite’, Amy had said, one of the last things she had said actually,) had even caressed her face with their grimy, bloody fingers before something had snapped within her and she had used the last of her strength and the very last of her bullets to be rid of them all, choosing to fight once more instead of accepting the fate she had originally decided upon.

Gunshots had caused her ears to ring and for her head to ache until exhaustion finally took over and wrapped her in its embrace, warm and inviting in a way the cold reality of this world never could be anymore.

A touch to her face broke Andrea out of her memories of the past to look into the dark, brown eyes of her companion and she inwardly smiled at the warmth she received in the gaze that looked back at her. The same eyes that had looked back at her the moment she had woken up a year ago to find herself in the same attic she had been in before with Michonne nursing her back to health.

“Come on,” Michonne murmured, bringing an arm around her shoulders and leading her forward to follow the cop that was leading them down block Twenty Two with his own wife and children stumbling right after him.

He had been the one who had plucked them right out of the disaster that had been their living conditions in that tree house, a whole ten miles away from where this salvation had awaited them for god knows how long, this city of Woodbury where everything was ordered and to Andrea’s delight everything seemed almost…normal. Like nothing had changed since the outbreak.

“People still laugh, they still smile,” Andrea had whispered with excitement in her voice after they had been led in on a whole bus of new people the cop and his young, teenaged son had picked up, “Michonne…these people haven’t been touched by the outbreak. _They haven’t been touched!_ ”

Michonne’s hands tightened around her as they continued to follow the cop down the long block of Twenty Two, her muscles tight in a way that said far too much and with a sigh Andrea allowed herself to be pulled into her friend’s embrace with her arms wrapped around her in such a way it was as if Michonne was the wall that protected Woodbury and she alone were the inhabitants that lived inside.

Smiles and laughter were all around them and still Michonne felt like stone underneath her touch. It was something, Andrea realized, that she would just have to get used to and learn to live, even more than she had had to do so before she soon realized once more when the cop told them to stop in front of two doors, one red with the number twenty one whilst the other was blue with the number twenty three.

“Right, this is you two,” the cop told them, reaching into his back pocket to retrieve two sheets of papers with details ( _ink,_ Andrea thought with rising excitement, _printer ink!_ ) that the cop quickly explained to them as he handed them over, “you two read them, sign them and hand them in at block One, a guy named Dale should be there to fill you two in on what you’ll be able to do around here.”

Andrea couldn’t be happier at this prospect in spite of how it felt so military around here, in fact she felt like she could sing at how protected this place, so untouched. It was as if it was a brand new type of utopia, the sort where only a fool could see it as anything _but_ the paradise it clearly was. This was everything her and Michonne had talked about in that year together, fighting, breathing, living to find a place like this where they would be protected, where they could find a place in this new society that didn’t involve fighting constantly, a place they could thrive.

Michonne on the hand only seemed to grow stiffer against her and before Andrea could protest her companion had moved away from her, arms crossed against her chest (causing the paper the cop have given to crinkle against her body) as she took in the cop, his wife and son with a look of distrust.

“What do you mean by on what we’ll be able to do around here?” Michonne muttered, brow arching at the cop’s wife in particular, “what do _you_ do around here? There a reason why you have no weapons on you, did they take them off you?”

Andrea smacked Michonne’s side, giving her a glare as she did so, “Michonne! Stop it! This is how…”

The cop’s wife waved her off from saying anymore, her smile bright but Andrea could tell from the hard look in her eyes that the friendly smile was just a front as to seem polite, either way the wife looked pleasant enough Andrea didn’t see why she had to feel any suspicion from her. So she shut that off and let her speak, because that was the only logical thing she knew she could do.

“It’s alright Andrea, it’s normal for people to want to know this and I can assure you she won’t be the last person to ask me these kind of questions today,” the wife held out a hand that looked like she was about to grab at Michonne’s arm but clearly thought better of it at the last second and withdrew at the last second, instead tucking it around the cop’s waist, using him as the anchor to hold her still against Michonne’s glare, “ _my_ name is Lori Grimes and I’m one of the nurses in training over here at the medical centre in Seventeen. As for weapons…”

Lori gave her husband a look that made Andrea fall back into Michonne’s chest, unsure at the sudden unease that had found its way upon her at the look that the people in front of them were sharing and how the subject of weapons had made them have this expression on their faces in the first place.

Unease got replaced quickly when the cop took over from his wife, sighing deeply as he took in the Ladysmith that rested in the belt that was slung around Andrea’s waist and the sword that hung loosely from Michonne’s back. To him it probably looked like some kind of nightmare and for some reason that made Andrea giggle inwardly, cops and their red tape…

When he finally did speak his tone was one of frustration as he scraped a hand down his face, shaking his head as he did so, “fine, you keep your weapons for now but if you’re planning on living here then you have to follow the rules. When you go get yourself sorted at One with Dale come report to me and we’ll talk about filling out a license for both of you on those weapons, is that clear?”

Andrea quickly nodded and looked over at Michonne to see that the warrior, in spite of her glare, seemed to be at ease somewhat and nodded curtly too before she dropped her arms to her side, opened the red door and made her way inside without a thank you or even a goodbye – the whole ordeal causing Andrea to flush such a horrible red colour at how embarrassing Michonne was to these people that she had to quickly thank Lori and her family with another nod of her head before she rushed into her own room, heart racing in humiliation.

What greeted her was something which made her pause and cock her head to the side, unable to believe that what awaited her was the sight of only one room containing a single bed pushed up against a white wall at one end of the room, a small bookcase the other side full to the brim of what looked to be ratty magazines and a chest of drawers packed into the corner just below the bed as though it had been put there at the very last minute by someone who had no idea how to decorate a room.

Not that she had had a room to call her own since the outbreak and so this room, this little space she could call her own…

Andrea tapped the corner of the drawer with a grin, a sudden euphoria coming over her, “this could work, this could definitely work,” she said as she chuckled and leant against the bookcase, pleased beyond anything, “this…”

“This room is smaller than mine,” Michonne’s voice came from beside her and with a small gasp Andrea spun on her feet to see that her long-time companion had abandoned her own room and was standing in the entry of Andrea’s own, her bag and katana at her feet as she took in the room with her brow arched in curiosity, “but at least you have a bookcase. All I have is a bed and drawers.”

Michonne stared around her room for a good minute before the silence that accompanied Andrea staring at her finally got the warrior and with a small sigh Michonne glanced at her feet, her body visibly tensing as the darker woman tried to get her words out that Andrea’s silence obviously begged for. It wasn’t easy for Michonne to speak to her still, even after the year they had spent together and so Andrea bit her lip and tried to remain as patient as she possible could in this situation, eyes waiting for Michonne to look up and answer her unasked question.

When it looked like Michonne wouldn’t be able to Andrea shrugged and leant down to grab at her friend’s bag to sling it over onto her bed, the action finally drawing Michonne’s gaze towards her long enough that Andrea immediately took advantage of it and with a grin she wrapped her friend up into a hug (ignoring how tense Michonne still was each and every time she did this) and whispered into her ear at how glad she was that Michonne was with her still, after everything they had been through together.

“I don’t want to sleep alone,” she murmured straight after, knowing that these words were the ones Michonne had wanted to say but hadn’t found the courage to do so, “I want you to sleep here with me, after all this time…I don’t want to sleep without you with me.”

Michonne sighed heavily in her ear, her breath hot in a way that made Andrea delirious as warm, calloused hands make their way around her waist even tighter than before as though Michonne’s trying to meld them together so they’ll never part and if Andrea was honest she couldn’t find it within herself to want anything else but for her and Michonne to be together for as long as possible with the time that they had left.

Her friend’s nose brushed against her ear and Andrea can’t deny the shudder that ran through her at the sensation, her affection for Michonne trickling through her with such ease that there was no point in thinking it was anything but the warmth she felt whenever she was in Michonne’s proximity and how that warmth had not occurred in her for such a long while it would be hard to mistaken it for anything but love.

“I love you so much,” she whispered, adding a voice to the love that she _did_ feel for Michonne and knowing that it didn’t truly matter what Michonne took that declaration for because she knew in her own way that Michonne did love her back, and that was more than enough – _had to be enough_ – for her.

Her answer was a sigh and arms that had been wrapped around her waist to move up to wrap protectively around her shoulders.

If Andrea tried hard she could almost imagine it to be as it had been before when they had been moving from settlement to settlement, her curled into Michonne’s embrace to get warm while Michonne’s hands had wrapped around her shoulders whilst her head rested on top of Andrea’s own, staring out into the night for potential dangers that lurked in every corner, waiting for them.

She also knew that Michonne had been awake most of those nights in wait for her boyfriend Mike to come back from his run into the town of King’s County, yet Andrea tried to block those memories out not just because they hurt her too much but because she didn’t want to remember how Michonne’s body had shook with sobs each time she thought Andrea had been too deep in slumber to notice.

Michonne pulled back from her then and her eyes shone in the dim light the room offered them.

“Let’s go to bed,” she murmured, taking Andrea’s hand and leading them towards the bed with sheets that were damp with cold and pillows hard as rock.

It didn’t matter.

Not when Andrea found herself so tightly curled up in Michonne’s arms and felt the panic that had touched Michonne’s heartbeat before when they had embraced was instead replaced with a calm, sensible thrum now that they slept side by side with one another.

“Thank you,” Andrea heard her friend whisper into her ear at the very last moment before she fell asleep, the temptation of slumber proving too much for her to get away from the unkind clutches of her mind that taunted her with the possibilities of this place and the potential dangers it held.

It didn’t matter.

Michonne wrapped around her?

That mattered.

* * *

 **A** ndrea woke up alone; fingers outstretched as though she had been unconsciously reaching for Michonne in her sleep and the hysteria that had been there before, before they found this haven awoke right with her and with a startled gasp she sat up from her bed with eyes wide in search for Michonne.

A brown hand came up from the floor to rest on the mattress of the bed, “shh Andrea, I’m here.”

Her heart that had been thudding as though she had been running for her life started to still at the familiar voice of her friend, it caused a relief to wash through her that Andrea let out with a sigh as she crawled her way over to take a quick glimpse over the side of the bed and chuckled softly at the sprawled out Michonne who was reading on the floor with her lips set into a firm line as she examined the page’s contents with disinterest.

Not that Andrea could blame her considering…

“You into that kind of thing?” Andrea asked, tilting her head to the side as she examined the page Michonne was looking at by pushing the magazine upwards to reveal an image of a petite looking (not to mention naked) woman sitting on the back of two men with a crown on top of her head.

To answer her Michonne merely shrugged, glancing up at her with amused eyes. “It’s got short stories on the side of it that I like reading. Why, what do you think I’m looking at?”

If Michonne had wanted her to flush she would surely be disappointed as Andrea herself only shrugged and let an arm come out from where it had been resting under her stomach to grab at the magazine, rolling over on her back to look more closely at the image. The woman in the image reminded Andrea of someone she had once known in her old life, an old friend of Amy’s that constantly bothered her whenever she was at home working on a file from work and to get her to stop Andrea had to eventually invite her out for a drink, which turned into many drinks.

She bit her lip to repress a giggle; which had turned into them being very naked and not looking at one another or Amy for a hell of a long time.

Andrea glanced to her side to see Michonne had sat up to rest her chin on the side of her bed, head tilted to the side in amusement. “Should I leave you and her alone?”

“I _knew_ you were looking at the girl,” Andrea teased with a snort accompanying it, rolling over on her stomach to rest her head against the one and only person who she had been with for so long to feel that the other woman’s skin had grown hot and flushed under her, “don’t feel bad Mich, she’s hot.”

Michonne glared at her through half-lidded eyes. “Shut it.”

Andrea rolled the magazine up to whack it on the top of the other woman’s head, smirking all the way over to her bag where she proceeded to pull out the little clothing she had left to get dressed. On her way to get dressed Andrea found the map Lori had given her the moment they had made their way into Woodbury and started to examine it, tilting it this way and that to try and get a look of the layout.

“Did you look at that map Lori gave you?” She asked and was surprised her eyes didn’t roll into the back of her head at the non-committal grunt she received in reply. Of course Michonne hadn’t looked at it…

From the looks of it there seemed to be 30 blocks altogether, each block having a certain section dedicated to things that Andrea hadn’t even heard of before in the context they were in on here, one in particular being experimentation of livestock and infected science in block Two, a whole twenty blocks from where they were situated safely together.

She wondered briefly on what the hell that could be before her eyes caught sight of another block in particular and she fell to her knees beside Michonne, shoving the map in her companion’s face with excitement bubbling out of her at the words ‘entertainment and retail stores’ that was printed across a large oblong shape of block Ten.

Michonne simply looked at the words and sighed; unimpressed at her enthusiasm more than likely, “is there anything they don’t have here? It’s too…good. There has to be a catch.”

Andrea let out a whine of annoyance and took the map from her friend, rolling it up to whack it against Michonne’s head once more but found out far too late Michonne had grown used to it and instead found herself lying on her friend after the warrior had kicked her feet from under her in retaliation, sending her sprawling (with fierce giggles shaking her body completely) onto her with the map slipping from her fingertips to fall onto the floor.

Her friend grunted under her weight but the smile that overtook her expression took away the sting and with her own grin Andrea cupped Michonne’s cheek and brought their faces together, nose to nose with her eyes refusing to leave Michonne’s own even when the darker woman under her let out another disgruntled sound to show her displeasure at such an intense moment between them both.

Andrea squeezed the cheek under her palm, “give this place a chance Mich, we don’t know everything about it just yet. Just give it one chance and if we don’t like it then we can…” She paused and inwardly shuddered at her next words, not at all pleased in saying them, “then we can move on, but first, please give it a chance?”

From the narrowed brow and the pouted glare it looked like Michonne was going to disagree with her entirely but after a few moments of utter silence she surprised Andrea by rolling her eyes and huffing out a small sigh, tilting her head back so that her expression was unreadable as a small _‘fine’_ left her lips, sounding so much like a petulant child it was unbelievable.

Getting up from Michonne’s chest Andrea tapped it gently, “I’m proud of you Mich, for giving this a chance.”

“Don’t push it.” Michonne retorted with a snappish tone that took Andrea aback for a second before she saw the glint in her friend’s eye and felt the same relief she had felt at seeing the cop that had led them here start to warm her chest.

It was that warmth, that care, which made Andrea run a hand through the thick dreads that had kept her face warm in the cold winter nights and for the words that came so easily to slip out of her mouth.

“I love you.”

Michonne’s eyes flickered to the ceiling and her mouth grew tight. Andrea felt her heart squeeze in earnest for her friend to say it back, just this once…

Silence was her answer once again.

* * *

 **A** fter their trip to One (and their talk with a nice man called Dale whom Andrea immediately liked) Andrea and Michonne both came out with a rationing book each for clothing, medicine and entertainment purposes – as meals were apparently consumed in a large canteen at certain intervals, another map and a document each they were to take to Rick (Michonne had snorted at the mention of the cop’s name) in block Seventeen where the police department was situated next to the army base in block Sixteen.

In Andrea’s opinion there were too many damn blocks around here even with the map to help them and even then it was hard to navigate around here without bumping into people who were also trying to find their way around, it was like feeding time at the zoo and more than once did her and Michonne have to sidestep a family or a large group of people (ranging from soldiers to doctors to scientists) in their attempt to get to block Seventeen.

“At least we’ll be able to get to keep our weapons once we have Rick sign these documents,” Andrea tried to start a conversation she knew Michonne would hang onto, and what better one than the talk of the precious katana that was still slung over the warrior’s back? “Then we can go back to our room and look at what we can do around here. I don’t want to be sitting still; maybe there will be a place where we can use our weapons?”

To Andrea’s shock Michonne didn’t look impressed as she stalked down the long road of blocks, “that is if we even pass. There’s going to be _tests_.” When Andrea looked confused Michonne shook her head and wrapped a hand around her waist, pulling her in closer so that she could whisper into her friend’s ear, “to see if we’re mentally sound, if we can be _trusted_.”

Andrea’s mouth fell open at her friend’s words and she tilted her head to the side to address Michonne with a mirthless grin. Michonne had a point, and it was only their second day here too, in all honesty the citizens and authorities of Woodbury had no real reason to trust them right now and she could tell Michonne knew that too by how her face had set into an angry scowl and the way her strides were irate and fervent in their movements.

In an attempt to calm Michonne somewhat she brushed her hand against the warrior’s own but to no avail as Michonne continued to stomp her way down the road, eyes sullen with a frustration Andrea knew the other woman would continue to be feeling as soon as they got to the police department and Michonne’s words would eventually unfold and come true.

She knew she couldn’t try and cheer Michonne up after that, it was far too difficult and Andrea knew from experience that once Michonne got like this there was nothing more she could do and so when it looked like her friend wasn’t going to say much more on the subject she simply rolled her shoulders to ease the tension there and started to look around the whole place as she walked.

There hadn’t been time to do that before as it had been night when they had arrived, but in the light of day it looked just like any other normal city apart from the fact everything was sectioned into gigantic blocks, almost like a shopping mall that a person would visit and yet the tall buildings (almost all were repaired of damages that Andrea assumed had happened after the outbreak) looked as though they had been built from scratch and was miraculously new in a way that made no sense anymore, not in this kind of world they now lived in.

And the noises here, they were loud and obnoxious just like they had been before the outbreak and yet nobody seemed bothered by it. In fact everyone was laughing, enjoying their day as though the people outside of these walls were not infected, that people (good people) were not being killed and infected themselves each day.

Andrea could suddenly see why Michonne was so unnerved by this place.

She went to voice her sudden unease but found herself unable to as Michonne was pushed to the side within an instant when a huge shoulder smashed against her friend’s own, sending Michonne back a few paces at the sudden impact that came from a large, hunkering figure that was strapped to the teeth with armaments and military gear and who’s partly shaved head glinted in the sun as he stopped and turned to give her and Michonne a toothy grin.

“Well I didn’t see you there sweetheart,” he drawled with an accent that set Andrea’s teeth on edge. A typical redneck, what a surprise, an even bigger one when she saw that his eyes hadn’t found her just yet because he was far too busy looking at Michonne, “you better be more careful there bounty bar, ain’t nothin’ like a smack in the chest with full body armour to get someone to a hospital you hear?”

Andrea saw Michonne’s nostrils flare in anger at the slur tossed her way and immediately put herself in front of the warrior just as Michonne let out a growl that Andrea had heard many times before, the subtle threat in the sound common enough to her that she knew well enough it would be wise for this asshole to back off.

Unfortunately for him he didn’t know Michonne, not that it mattered in the slightest with how his eyes had fallen onto her the moment she had stepped in front of the warrior and how his tongue had poked out from his lips to wet them as though he was looking at an appetizing meal instead of just seeing her in general.

Andrea held in a snort, this guy and the walkers had more in common than he probably realized.

“Back _off_ ,” she warned lowly, reaching back slightly to press her palm against Michonne’s own in hopes of calming her slightly with her touch in spite of the tensed muscle she could feel under the vest her companion wore, “we didn’t come to this place just to be bullied by thugs like you, _so back the hell_ off.”

In reply the man merely wagged his finger at her, stripping himself of the assault rifle that he had strapped to his waist and walking over towards her and Michonne with paces that were long and intimidating in a way that if Andrea hadn’t been so sure she would have been called out on it she would have started to shake, but regardless she treated this man as the way he was acting, like some idiotic, senseless bully.

She glared up at him as he leant down to wink gleefully at her, “you know you’re a nasty tongued kinda girl and you’re a feisty little thing right? I like that. I like that about you, blondie.” Her eyes moved towards his hand that twitched near her waist, a lump appearing in her throat, “you and me? Could have a hell of a time here, where you livin’? I gots me a place that’s probably bigger than that shitty thing they give out nowadays to newcomers.”

Her shock at him knowing she was new around here must have shown on her face because as soon as he had finished he was leaning back up to his full height, tongue still poking out the side of his mouth as he continued to talk. “You girlies look like fresh meat ‘round here, ya’ll gotta be joking if you think any different. Can tell your new by how you probably thinkin’ this place is some kinda paradise, lemme tell you somethin’…”

“Hey Merle, Dixon! You comin’ or what?!” A voice interrupted the man ( _‘Merle’_ Andrea thought with distaste, _‘even his name sounds ridiculous’_ ) in his speech and when they all looked up to see that another man in military uniform was calling down to the man that spoke to them, an almost carbon copy of the man apart from his head was completely shaved and that his face and eyes seemed kinder, younger too but…

“DIXON! Let me tell you somethin’ man, you get your ass over here now before I kick your ass into…” Andrea decided that in spite of not knowing anything about the guy yelling at this hick, she liked him immensely and showed her appreciation by gesturing to the man in particular to Merle, entirely amused at the dumbfounded look that overcame the redneck’s face.

He eventually pulled away with a resentful sound escaping from the back of his throat and picked up his gear before moving away from them both, grumbling all the way as he made his way past them to head towards the large building with a giant Sixteen on top where his ‘friend’ was waiting for him outside.

Andrea watched him go and shook her head, “asshole. If he tries something like that again I’m going to go report him, just because his in that military group doesn’t mean he gets the right to…”

“If he tries to touch you again I’ll…” Michonne interrupted her before she trailed off with a sound that was a mixture of a growl and a grunt, her hands that had been strapped to her side by some sort of invisible force now was on Andrea’s waist as she scowled at the retreating figure.

“I’ll do _something_.” The warrior finished, abruptly letting go of Andrea to readjust the sheath on her back, her actions clumsy and hasty as though she was trying her hardest not to let the anger that she clearly felt to get the better of her.

Andrea felt a burst of affection at the attempt in spite of everything and placed a hand at the small of her friend’s back, rubbing soft, soothing circles there as she carefully pressed them forward to head towards block Seventeen where the cop they were looking for would be able to help them settle in with any last inquiries and documents that needed looking at.

On the way there Andrea felt resistance from her companion, once she realized that Michonne had stopped she too skidded to a halt to look in the direction where dark brown eyes were, her own cerulean gaze fixating on a wooden board that hung outside the police department’s door and creaked ever so slightly whenever the door in particular was used.

_MISSING PERSONS_

_Do you have a loved one that is missing? Inform the police department today and together we can help search for your loved one and bring them safely back home._

What followed were a list of names that were set next to a few pictures of people whom Andrea assumed were the missing people in question, a sight that from the look of discomfort on Michonne’s face hit too close to home for her and instantly Andrea pressed a hand to the side of her companion’s hip, thumb looping through Michonne’s belt in order to keep them together side by side.

It was clear to her that a certain someone was at the front of Michonne’s mind and the thought of how hurt her friend must be caused the sudden impulse of leaning her head against Michonne’s shoulder, inhaling the sharp, musky scent of her and allowing it to fulfil her with the grounding she hadn’t known she had needed until now.

However it wasn’t her who needed that, not with how Michonne trembled underneath her touch.

“Do you want to ask about,” Andrea swallowed noisily, her grip tightening around the other woman’s belt, “well, Mike? I know from the look on your face you think the idea is ridiculous but maybe…”

Michonne shrugged away from her grip and sent her a wide-eyed look that made what felt like ice replace the heart that was in Andrea’s chest, the look of utter despondency coming from her friend that Andrea had no idea what to do or how to answer said look apart from staring at the stiff form of her friend and hoping beyond hope that one day in the far off future she would see her friend in a light that displayed the full side of her.

Not just the half broken side.


	2. Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michonne and Andrea attempt to fit into Woodbury, but memories and scars cause them more trouble than they would have ever realized.

**Sixteen**

* * *

  
**"W** hat do you see?"

Andrea would have laughed if she hadn't seen such a serious look in the doctor's eyes across from her and so kept her mouth shut, eyes glued to the ink blot that was hanging from the ceiling above Michonne's head as though it had been painted by some scrawny little kid and not like the professional piece she assumed it was supposed to look like.

To her the test had been fairly simple.

The doctor that had examined her over at the back of the police department in block Seventeen went by the name of Bob Stookey whom had only looked at her from across the room, chuckled and asked that if she was against him asking her to remove her clothes so he would be able to examine her and see if she was 'well' in the physical health department before he moved onto mental health.

She hadn't, because this guy was a doctor right? And yet Michonne's hand tightened on her waist until it felt like her friend was going to snap her in two with how powerful her grip was, the possessiveness in such a grip would have once made Andrea bristle at being touched in such a way. But now, now it was like second nature to her after being with Michonne so long and instead she simply leaned into it because why not?

Michonne protected her, cherished her as the last remaining thing she had been given and for that Andrea couldn't find it within her to fault Michonne for holding onto her as tightly as she had then.

"Your friend can wait in here if it would make her feel more secure," the doctor said after a moment's pause, taking in Michonne's hand on her waist and arching a brow at the gesture in particular.

Andrea looked at her and caught sight of the conflicted look in her friend's eyes, a look that told her Michonne definitely did want to stay but something was holding her back from actually doing so; just like before, when Michonne hadn't been able to ask Andrea if they could still sleep together like before.

Michonne had rested her other hand on her waist to turn her so she could see the concern in those dark brown eyes that had been her haven throughout the first year of the outbreak. "If anything bad happens, just scream," she whispered, brushing a calloused thumb against Andrea's skin under her shirt, "I'll be right outside, I'll come running, don't you hesitate, hear me?"

She smiled and pressed her hand against Michonne's own, holding onto that warmth, that familiarity until their fingers brushed together as they parted. "I promise."

Unfortunately Michonne hadn't been there when she had finished, instead another doctor informed her that her friend was being tested in the room Andrea could see into from the glass window by the receptionist area, and what she saw was definitely something that made her uneasy even as she laughed at the inkblots being shown.

They were certainly trying to make sure Michonne was sound, and what she thought of, but still Andrea couldn't help but find the whole thing trivial and somewhat ludicrous. How on earth were they even able to get all this equipment? Why had they got it in the first place, why waste these resources on this kind of thing when there were a bunch of biters, walkers, crazies, whatever the hell people called them that were still out there? Still infecting the dying population?

She remembered the first thing Michonne had told her the moment they had stepped inside the first 'civilisation' they had come across, a little encampment that went by the name of Rivers Tree, remembered the bitter tone so clearly and the little intake of breath as the words ' _the dead will win, they always do'_  left her as they took sight of the moat that had separated the encampment away from the main road, as though that would have protected them.

Andrea bit her lip at the memory. They hadn't needed protection from the dead in the end; the living was just as bad, if not worse.

As she watched her friend's eyes flicker back and forth Andrea suddenly realized Michonne's hesitance at being in this community, after everything that had happened back there she didn't think she would be too far off the mark of assuming Michonne would have been happy to stay in that rotting tree house forever with the walkers biting at their ankles whenever they decided to leave or were too loud.

' _We'd have died there'_ , Andrea thought grimly, shaking her head to get rid of the venomous thoughts so she could focus instead on her friend in that room, going through god knows how many tests just to prove if she was mentally sound to be able to carry a weapon around.

The sword in particular hung on a peg in a locked box next to the deputy at his desk, a locked box of steel that Rick had prided himself over at finding it on a run before he had opened those large doors and had stored their weapons away with the excuse that they would be returned either today or the following week going on weeks, depending on the results.

Rick had given her a smile as she had passed him to go watch on Michonne's progress, explaining half-heartedly that this was a process every new person went through and that it was just better this way than allowing people to go around with their weapons in case people ended up being just a little trigger-happy than was needed around here.

"Not that there should be any trigger-happy people around here," he had corrected a few seconds later, flushed at his slip up, "the troops though, they always need medical care after,  _always._ "

She had found it odd on how easy the man seemed to be with giving information out about Woodbury, was he supposed to be doing this? To make the place seem more safe, or was it something else entirely? Andrea didn't know, and by the way Rick's eyes seemed to darken after she had left it was more likely that she would never know in a place like this.

Yet still she wanted to stay. She was tired, tired of running and hoping and wishing, why not fall into this paradise, this utopia,  _her_  utopia? What did it matter if it was someone else's dystopia, it wasn't hers now was it, so what did that matter?

The sudden movement of Michonne getting up from the chair shocked her and with good reason as she watched the warrior go towards the exit of the room to wrench it open, exiting with such haste and fervour that before she knew it Andrea was rushing over to grab Michonne by the elbows in order to still her run even as Michonne continued to move forward to try and escape the room she had come from.

Without knowing the full story Andrea had a faint idea what had caused such a horrible, volatile reaction and so when the doctor cried out and immediately Rick and another office on duty went to move from their stations she could only raise her hand out to them, knowing she didn't command authority to do so but attempted it anyway, for Michonne.

Michonne's face was drawn into an angry snarl and her head was bowed low enough Andrea could feel her breath against her face, "he said I couldn't have my sword. He said I'd have to wait to get it back. I need that sword. I need it, to protect you, to protect us from the infected and he won't give it me back…"

Andrea interrupted her at the last minute, shushing her friend, "we  _are_  protected here. Didn't you see the wall, the soldiers, and the officers in here? Michonne…you're overreacting! We'll get your sword back," she glanced behind her shoulder to see that Rick and his officer were still glancing at them with a look that clearly said they had no idea if they were expecting trouble or not, a sight that immediately made Andrea try her hardest in calming her friend down as best as she could, "but you can't just expect them to let us keep it. We're going to have to actually prove we are able to live without weapons for a little while, that we aren't completely dependent on them, but you acting this way? Mich it's not looking good for us!"

Michonne looked as though she was about to yell right back at her with how her lip trembled but she's pleasantly surprised when the other woman lets out a long sigh, her fingers curling into a fist before she nodded and glared at the two men over Andrea's shoulder with a contempt that Andrea knew Michonne would most likely always have when it came to strangers, especially those who took her weapons from her.

Her breathing was still heavy but Andrea know she can't do much about that apart from press her hand against Michonne's hip and lead her away from the room, muttering apologies as she went.

* * *

  
**"T** hey carry weapons," Michonne said, the sulkiness in her tone not lost on Andrea as she took in the sight of the shaved head of the man she had seen before discussing something with a group of soldiers just near the 'army base' (if that was what two large houses could be called) with weapons that swung almost casually from their backs and waists, "that asshole  _Dixon_  carries weapons."

Andrea rolled her eyes; she really should have expected to hear this sort of muttering all day but regardless it didn't make it less annoying. Something she let Michonne when she set her gaze on her companion and saw her flush at her look even as she tried to keep their gaze from one another from faltering.

It would have stayed like that for a while Andrea was sure but she saw no purpose in staring so long and hard at her frustrating friend, choosing to voice her opinion in turn, "the thing is Mich? Those are soldiers, they're supposed to have weapons, and you know that."

Michonne snorted as she walked past, "they look as dumb as a bag of hammers, not people who I want at my back, or yours." She shot them a resentful glare at the last moment, lips pulling back over her teeth as she took in the group of them as though they were something particularly nasty that she had stepped on.

Andrea didn't question it, she knew not to considering she had expected this from Michonne the moment they had walked through those doors with knowledge that neither of them would be getting their weapon back anytime soon until they had settled into this community properly as were expected of them, just like it had been the last time they had seen a civilisation like the one they were walking through right now.

This civilisation was peace in a solid form Andrea decided even as she ignored Michonne's distrustful, flickering eyes that refused to stay on her for more than moment. Michonne more than likely expressing silently that she did not want Andrea to stray from her and was keeping an eye on her, it was a thing of Michonne's that Andrea accepted and found that she was even getting used to, this watchful eye on her…

Did Michonne feel the same way about being in this place? That they were being watched? It made sense in some aspect, the way her friend shifted every so often and her hand clenched and unclenched as though some invisible force was pressing down upon her at each step and she was trying her hardest, her damned hardest, to fight back.

Michonne was like a tornado, impossible to contain in such a tight space, impossible to contain at all and with these walls whilst so wide and tall to her seemed so ridiculously small and cramped to Michonne.

"I want my sword back," Michonne murmured after a while of them walking past more and more blocks to get back to Twenty Two.

Nobody had seemed to bother them about them sharing a room, but it wasn't as if that was known to anyone yet Michonne made sure nobody was watching regardless in case anyone got ideas apparently. The same kind of ideas that had happened last time, the idea that had gotten them in such a situation that Andrea knew without looking at Michonne sometimes that it weighed on the warrior's mind far too much, plagued her in fact.

Andrea on the other hand tried her hardest not to think about it in fear it would in turn plague her mind instead, and maybe it was selfish not to help Michonne through the memories of what had happened before Woodbury but Andrea didn't know if she was ready for that step, or if she ever would be in terms of actually discussing what happened instead of Michonne just looking at her, silently deciding on something and then carrying on as  _though_  nothing had happened.

Maybe they were both selfish like that.

* * *

  
**"N** o can do ladies, we only take people we think can actually  _survive_  out there," the commander Shane Walsh told them both, grinning from ear to ear as he stared at them from behind where he sat at his desk, "this is Sixteen, a place for soldiers, but if ya'll lookin' for a place where you can do someone's hair or give out rations and tours then I'm pretty sure I can direct you to Nineteen and Four to get you two settled in nice and proper."

Michonne's nostrils flared and her tone was one of clear anger as she spoke, "we're still alive, aren't we?"

Shane let out a guffaw and wiped his hand over his mouth to get rid of the crumbs of bread that had clung to his stubble before he then moved out of his chair, walking around towards them with his mouth stretched ear to ear in an obvious mocking, humorous smile that made Andrea want to punch him in the face before berating herself at how at first she had thought he was kind of attractive in a dopey kind of way.

Now all she wanted to do was yell at him good, a want that intensified the moment she heard him speak again to them both.

"You're also new, yeah? Been here for what, three days now? Lady do you think I only take in strays off the street? Nah girl, that's more Rick's job," his lip curled upwards into a sneer, one that Andrea noticed was directed more at Michonne rather than her as his attentions towards her only seemed to be directed at her mouth rather than her whole face, "listen I get you want something to do, but this is for soldiers and people who know their way around a weapon, and if you ain't got that then there ain't much I can do for you. You need to go through a training programme and let me tell you somethin' I'm sick of losin' people to training because it's too intense for them and I don't want two dead women on my conscious, alright?"

After that the tent they were standing in fell to an unearthly silence that Shane took as consent from them that they agreed with what he was saying, backed up by how he nodded and went over to the entrance of the tent, pulling it back with a gesture of his head that he wanted them to get out of there.

Andrea shook her head, "we're not leaving this tent until you tell us about this training programme and what it entails that makes it so dangerous," she crossed her arms against her chest and placed most of her weight on one foot, arching her brow in order to let the man know herself and Michonne would not be going anywhere, "when we came here we were barely surviving that's true but we survived in spite of everything and now we want a place here, in this community and as someone who commands authority I expect you to give me the information I ask for so me and my friend can  _thrive_  in this community and help it."

Briefly she met Michonne's gaze and found that the warrior was staring at her a look that strangely enough looked to be pride, a pride that made her eyes shine and for her jaw to become less tensed as she took her and what she had said in and allowed it to push a brief, somewhat faint, smile onto her expression before it was gone as quick as a flash to be replaced with the same scowl it always was when they weren't alone with only each other for company.

Andrea curled her fingers behind her back to keep her from brushing her fingers against the back of Michonne's hand, temptation would cut her open and she didn't need them knowing anything more about her and Michonne than they more than likely already assumed.

Shane didn't seem to care about what she wanted anyhow and when she went to open her mouth he placed a finger to his lips. "I am not going to be answering anymore questions from you two about it. I already told ya'll, not having two dead women's blood on my hands when I already got too much on there as it is. Now get out or I'll get someone to chuck you two out."

Andrea went to argue once more but was brought to a stop when Michonne's hand fell on her stomach and her dark eyes insisted she be quiet, the intensity of them enough to make her fall silent with a sigh to be led out by Michonne's hand at the small of her back, eyes narrowed at the commander as she went past.

"What kind of training programme kills soldiers anyway?" She muttered over her shoulder, meeting Shane's eyes for a brief second to see a flicker of what looked to be remorse of some sort before his next words erased that completely with the flutter of the tent door closing halting the conversation between them absolutely.

"Welcome to Woodbury, sweetheart."

Andrea snorted and rolled her eyes, tensing at the dismissal even as curiosity started to wage inside her at the look that had been on Shane's face before the tent had shut him off from them.

"Go to hell," she said anyway, not really caring if the fucker heard it or not as long as it got her point across.

Michonne's hand was on her back and it squeezed her tenderly as they walked. It felt like it was the highest amount of protection she would ever be allowed access to, and for that Andrea was grateful to have Michonne working side by side with her.

She wondered what she would say if she traced the words of her love on the back of Michonne's arms before she silenced herself with a sigh at how pointless that was – there would be no answer of course, because when did Michonne ever answer her when it came to what they both felt?

Feelings were pointless.

* * *

  
**T** he canteen was near enough full by the time her and Michonne got there with the sounds of people moving around, eating and talking to one another about the most trivial things Andrea had ever heard in such a setting as the one they were in right now as the made their way towards the service area to collect their trays of food that was being rationed out by a group of people behind the steel counters.

From the way Michonne's eyes rolled to the side to look at her told Andrea that her friend was listening in on the various conversations too, confirmed completely seconds later by Michonne's lips moving quickly. "It's the end of the world and penis size is still being discussed."

Unable to help herself Andrea burst into fierce laughter, causing the two men in front of her in the line to stare at her with a look of confusion before they went back to their previous conversation, leaving her to catch her breath as she took in the slightly smirking woman next to her.

She nudged her with her hip, drawing her smirk towards her giggling face, "I was more interested in listening in on what people usually had for dinner around here, but if the penis talk is where your priorities lie Michonne…"

Michonne's eyes darkened as they rested on her, her smirk fading slowly until it was a mere, simple smile that made butterflies appear in Andrea's stomach, an old experienced turned new once she saw that grin that she had so sure been hidden away from her for the rest of time once they had walked through Woodbury's gates.

Andrea bit her tongue to stop herself from saying anything that she would regret and stepped forward to grab the rationed tray of food that had been wrapped up in foil before her hand moved out to grab another tray for Michonne, smiling softly at the noise of frustration that she heard behind her as Michonne slowly followed her away to head back into the noise and fuss of the canteen.

The 'canteen' was in fact a very large dining hall that had obviously been there for important delegate meetings between very important people or posh snobs, either one was possible, as the paintings and placards that lay across the cracking red walls told much of the small stories behind each name such as 'Leader Raphael' and 'Father Jones' and the rest that had sat in these four walls before the world had gone to shit all around them.

Still due to how large the damn place was it meant that they were able to get around somewhat without disturbing any of the other various groups around the place, something which Andrea knew she didn't want to do and put Michonne in an uncomfortable position with other people when she knew Michonne wasn't 100% okay with the setting they were in, so in the end they took a small four seated table near the very back of the bustling canteen in the corner.

"Really roomy and suspicious here," Andrea commented dryly with a smack of her lips, settling herself down in the chair opposite to Michonne and grinning at the scowl that took over the warrior's face, "definitely looks like a place where me and you could be hatching an evil plot to overthrow this totalitarian state that is obviously going on around here."

"We don't know who runs it," Michonne protested but thought better of developing her answer anymore and instead sighed, plucked the foil away from Andrea's tray to reveal the rationed food of plain spaghetti and a small wedge of cheese that would be their meal for the rest of the day apparently, figures, "looks like it isn't the utopia you thought it was, no chocolate or…"

At Andrea's wounded look mixed with obvious animosity at the jab directed towards her Michonne allowed herself to trail off rather sheepishly, ducking her head as she did so to stab her plastic fork into the steaming dry spaghetti and bring it to her mouth to chew on slowly so that she could avoid Andrea's gaze whilst she did so.

It would probably be a good idea not to slip up like that again, or that's what Andrea thought would be running through Michonne's mind anyhow considering the silence that had overtaken them both, but Michonne's quick slip of a jab directed towards her left Andrea reeling and her own emotions got the better of her and before she knew it was she was speaking right back, anger colouring her tone.

"What," she started, chewing aggressively on the chunk of cheese that had been given to her, "you want us to go back to that other settlement? Is that it?"

Andrea found the courage within herself to glance up at her friend, ignoring the guilt that tore her heart in two at seeing the look of fury that shone in those dark eyes of Michonne's and how just seeing those once tender eyes twisted into such a cruel alter image made her tongue grow twice in size and for her eyes to sting with unshed tears. She had let her anger get the better of her, and now because of it she felt the wall that had been slowly building between her and Michonne start to rise up further and further.

Michonne's hand shook as she shovelled another large piece of spaghetti into her mouth and chewed slowly, refusing to remove her gaze from Andrea's even when Andrea herself was so sure the warrior knew tears were soon to come from her any second now and the consequence and look would be dire in such a place where they still didn't know who was friend and who was foe.

It was when Michonne finally stopped chewing did she speak, and yet when Andrea heard her she suddenly wished she hadn't.

"Don't you dare say that," the words were like a knife dripping with a finely laced poison, yet in spite of it Andrea could detect no threat, just hurt that she had caused in her fit of tempestuous emotions, "what happened back  _there_ …It should have been…"

Andrea grabbed at the warrior's hand and squeezed hard, causing the shakes that had been present in both of their hands to fall still as they stared at one another with gazes that refused to remain from one another, even when it felt as though the whole canteen had gone silent and the world and its friend was staring right at them and analysing each and every movement with watchful eyes.

They didn't speak to one another (didn't need to) but Andrea shook her head and eventually let go once she saw the remorseful look in her friend's eyes, and how Michonne didn't seem to want to look at her any longer glued her eyes to back to her spaghetti and once more began to twist and twirl it around the plastic fork to distract them from talking any longer.

She didn't have to pretend that was but just one of the reasons why she and Michonne didn't talk about it. Now she pretty much knew, knew that she and Michonne would take more than a while on talking about it, if they ever did get around to talking about it and when they did…

Andrea swallowed the last bit of cheese with an uneasy gulp. She didn't even want to think about it.

She and Michonne finished their meal in reasonable silence, only meeting eyes when necessary until they were completely done. And even then they only sat there, unable to figure out what the next move was when it came to one another apart from now they were in a situation where nothing could seemingly break the ice right now which of course left them in a rather tricky situation.

Yet before Andrea could even attempt so they were joined by none other than the redneck Dixon that had been bugging them yesterday and another man in the onyx uniform of a soldier, one who looked similar to Dixon apart from his face seemed gaunter and his body looked much more smaller in comparison to the rippling muscle that bulged from Dixon's body. He also (thankfully enough) didn't look half as smug either, if anything he looked almost embarrassed to be sitting next to two women from the way his cheeks flushed as he looked over at them timidly whereas Dixon seemed to beam with delight.

"Well helloooo ladies," he greeted them with a grin, tucking into the noticeably larger meal of pasta, rice, beans and crackers with relish, "ya'll lookin' preeeetty glum over here, enough to make a man cry y'know? So what I was thinkin' is that maybe you need my charmin' self to brighten ya'll day, yeah?"

Andrea glared but she visibly saw the way Michonne tensed around Dixon and felt how her foot (that was pressed up against Andrea's ankle) had started to twitch as though she was finding it hard to cope with this man's proximity, which Andrea could understand with how overbearing the guy was and how it was as though being propelled back into the past before Woodbury.

She toed Michonne's ankle with her feet in an attempt to calm her down but was thrown off by the glare she received in reply, the warrior's mouth instead moving with a haste that surprised Andrea as she took in the tensed muscle that was clear in the warrior's arms.

"We're leaving, get the fuck away from us," she warned, already pushing the other soldier who had sat by her out of the way ("hey you fuckin' bitch! What the fuck?") and making a move towards Andrea to pull her away from the canteen table, "and don't you dare touch her, either."

Dixon smacked her hand away to grasp Andrea's shoulder, grinning as he did so. "Maybe blondie wants to stay here with her ol' pal…"

Andrea watched helplessly as Michonne snapped the second Dixon grabbed at her and with a growl she grabbed at the redneck's fleeced collar, using her full body weight to pull the man over to her side of the table in one pull of her arms, so that in seconds he was lying down on his back in front of the raging woman who in a matter of moments had lost her grip on the broken reality this haven provided.

Andrea couldn't stop her even if she tried, eyes wide in shock as she watched a dark fist come down and down again against Merle's face, the sound of bone crunching and Michonne's uneven breathing causing the canteen around them to fall silent as the tendrils of horror wrapped around those who were witnessing the terror that was laid out in front of them.

"Michonne, stop it!" Andrea cried out, her voice breaking at the last second as she stumbled from the table to get to her friend to lay a hand on the warrior's arm, gripping tightly in order to stop Michonne from beating the redneck to his bloodied death, "Stop it!  _MICHONNE!_  You're killing him!"

Michonne didn't stop; in fact she kept on going for seconds more before Andrea watched in horror as the soldier who had accompanied Dixon pushed Michonne back a few paces before he grabbed her by the neck with his hand already going to the knife strapped to his thigh, ripping it from its hold before growling and shoving at it threateningly towards Michonne's sides.

"Michonne, don't!" Andrea cried out in warning again but the tension that had been building up within her friend had silently dispersed throughout her whole body and within seconds she had moved to go back towards Dixon again, only to be stopped by the knife going for her forehead again and to Andrea's despair, nicking at Michonne just above her brow to draw a line of red in her dark skin whilst her friend let out a growl of anger.

She went to try and draw a line in this once and for all but found herself unable to move as within moments a large, muscular flash of grey had thrown itself at Michonne to pin her to the ground whilst Rick in his police uniform had appeared from behind to grab at Dixon's friend (or brother, or cousin, or whoever the fuck he was) and kick him to the ground too, kneeling on his back to stop him from getting up and at Michonne.

Andrea felt like she was paralyzed, rooted to the spot as she watched what was going on in front of her without knowing what else to do until she saw that the figure that still currently held Michonne down was none other than Shane, his form pressed down upon the warrior enough to send her rushing into action so that she propelled forward to fall to her knees in front of her friend.

Shane saw her immediately and let out a grunt of warning, "I wouldn't if I were you. Don't know where you picked her up but," he moved over press his weight fully on top of Michonne, trapping her in between his legs, "she is one tough woman, Jesus Christ…"

Like she gave a shit about that, Andrea thought with a roll of her eyes. "Just get off of her!" she ordered with authority in her tone she knew she truly didn't possess, especially on her hands and knees and crawling towards the panting woman's body underneath Shane's, "she's not going to endanger anyone here, she's just…"

Tenderly she cupped her companion's cheek, a soft noise escaping her as the previously growling woman glanced up at her from under dark, wet lashes with shimmering eyes that told more than Michonne would have liked if it was anyone else looking down at her like Andrea was, but that was something Andrea just couldn't help and even when Michonne tried to avert her gaze the squeeze of a hand against her cheek made her look back up.

She wanted to ask what had happened, what had made Michonne freak out in such a way but Andrea knew she couldn't, not when she already knew the answer so very well in how Michonne's eyes slid past her to stare at the paralyzed form of Dixon over the other side of the room where she had dragged him and had beat him until his nose had broken and her knuckles had been stained red.

"He touched you," she said and of course it made sense, made sense in a way Andrea knew would sound crazy to other people but to her? Not at all, and perhaps that was all that really mattered when saw Michonne's eyes slid back towards her.

"What did she just say?" Andrea heard Shane ask but she didn't answer him, thus causing him to turn his attention onto the two soldiers to the far off side of the room, "hey! Dixon! You breathin' down there still?"

Merle spat a large glob of blood out of his mouth, "Fuckin' crazy bitch almost killed me! My goddamn nose is…"

Shane cut him off and with a grunt he pushed himself off Michonne and pulled her up with such force that the warrior let out a muted groan of displeasure (Andrea tried not to throw herself at the man and smack him in order to stop him from hurting her friend), her head upright in order to glare out towards the fallen body of Dixon, his friend being pressed to the floor by Rick and the rest of the inhabitants of the canteen that had stopped to watch the whole spectacle.

Andrea watched as Rick's grip on the other soldier tightened to a degree where the man in question let out a hiss, his steely eyes still fixed on Michonne who at this point seemed ready to accept her fate of whatever it was Shane was preparing for her, and yet when Michonne saw her and recognized the look of concern engrained into her expression she let out a low growl and tried to get away from Shane as best as she could.

In turn Shane pressed down harder on her wrists and before Andrea could cry out in order to get him to stop; he was already moving Michonne away with hands wrapped tightly around her wrists that stopped her from pulling away from him completely.

"Going to get her to Doc, Rick," Shane called over his shoulder to Rick, already moving forward with Andrea right behind him, practically biting at his heels with every step she took after him in order to get closer to Michonne, "ya'll take Dixon and Daryl to Hershel, ain't no sense in takin' them to someone like Stookey! I'll meet you at your office after, clear out man!"

Andrea had no other choice but to follow him, her fear of what was coming up next causing her to shake at each step she took.

 


End file.
